Demarcation Diaries
16 September 2001
Another hot and sweaty day on the Comte Savio. The, now complete,
demarcation team are all here on board awaiting the arrival of
the Greenpeace helicopter Tweetie. Unfortunately due to bureaucratic
nonsense in Manaus the helicopter is delayed, buried in paperwork
and safety dictates we should not camp out in the jungle until
it arrives.
Work is still going on. The two teams are having alternate work
days/rest days and returning to the ship each night.
We have also all been shocked by the terrorist attacks in the
US. It all seems very surreal out here. The initial reaction of
everyone was disbelief. Getting the latest news is hard. Thank
God for the BBC World Service.
We have tried to explain to our Deni friends what has happened
but even after watching the news I do not know if they really
get it. It is worlds away from the way they live. How can we expect
a culture with a system of trade, common ownership and small decentralised
'government' to understand the concepts of the World Bank and
a super power like the United States?
To me, recent events highlight how much we have to learn from
people like the Deni and how important it is to fight to protect
their land and culture.
Yesterday Team A visited the closest Deni village. It is one
of the larger, more modern villages. Most likely because it is
close to the Jurua river allowing easy trade and contact with
the towns upstream. We created quite a sensation on arrival, everyone
came out to meet us. I am getting so used to being constantly
scrutinised that it will be strange to arrive back in London and
be another anonymous body on the tube.
Marcio (the Brazilian doctor) and I soon had our first patients
to see, the chief of the village and two women. The Deni men were
insistent that only a woman could examine their wives. I am not
a Portuguese speaker, this meant the medical history was translated
from Deni to Portuguese to English for every question, a lengthy
process and rather like a game of Chinese whispers. None of the
patients were too seriously unwell.
As we left the village the water just looked too tempting and
soon we had all jumped in. It is such a relief from the heat to
sit waist deep in water. Some beautiful Deni children came to
the edge of the water but would not come too near. They were especially
afraid of Jan who pretended to be an alligator every time they
got close and they ran shrieking and laughing out of the water.
The rest of the village sat at the top of the hill and watched
us. A very voyeuristic experience.
For me the day ended painfully, sometimes it seems like everything
here is out to eat you! I already look like a victim of smallpox
with my colourful insect bite collection, then I stepped on a
nasty spiny fish.
Fortunately I only scratched my toe with the spine but the pain
was terrible and lasted for a few hours. I was almost tempted
to take up the offer of one of my team mates to pee on my foot
because warm water denatures the poison...almost, but not quite.
I always joke that the doctor is the first person to get injured
so I should probably be grateful it wasn´t a snake.
At the moment we sound a bit like a cruise ship, there is music
playing, a beautiful breeze and sleepy crew swinging gently in
hammocks. Despite the bites, the hard work and the poisonous fish
I am very happy to be here.
Tchau,
Janine
(Team A)
Find out about the different
volunteers on the demarcation project.
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